2020 Penn State Nittany Lions football team
The 2020 Penn State Nittany Lions football team was to represent the Pennsylvania State University in the 2020 NCAA Division I FBS football season as a member of the Big Ten Conference. The team were to be led by seventh-year head coach, James Franklin.
2020 Penn State Nittany Lions football | |
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Conference | Big Ten Conference |
East Division | |
Ranking | |
Coaches | No. 7 |
Head coach | James Franklin (7th season) |
Offensive coordinator | Kirk Ciarrocca (1st season) |
Co-offensive coordinator | Tyler Bowen (1st season) |
Offensive scheme | Spread |
Defensive coordinator | Brent Pry (5th as DC; 7th overall season) |
Co-defensive coordinator | Tim Banks (5th season) |
Base defense | 4–3 |
Home stadium | Beaver Stadium (Capacity: 106,572) |
2020 Big Ten Conference football standings | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Conf | Overall | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Team | W | L | W | L | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
East Division | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Indiana | – | – | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Maryland | – | – | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Michigan | – | – | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Michigan State | – | – | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Ohio State | – | – | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Penn State | – | – | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rutgers | – | – | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
West Division | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Illinois | – | – | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Iowa | – | – | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Minnesota | – | – | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Nebraska | – | – | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Northwestern | – | – | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Purdue | – | – | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Wisconsin | – | – | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Championship: TBA | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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On August 11, 2020, the Big Ten Conference cancelled all fall sports competitions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The conference expressed the possibility that a season could be played in the spring of 2021.[1]
Previous season
The Nittany Lions finished the 2019 season 11–2, and had a conference record of 7–2. They received an invitation to the 2019 Cotton Bowl Classic where they defeated the #17 2019 Memphis Tigers 53–39. Penn State finished the 2019 season ranked #9 in both the AP Poll and Coaches Poll.
Offseason
Staff changes
2020 NFL Draft
Round | Pick | Player | Team |
---|---|---|---|
2 | 38 | Yetur Gross-Matos | Carolina Panthers |
2 | 46 | K. J. Hamler | Denver Broncos |
4 | 141 | John Reid | Houston Texans |
6 | 183 | Cam Brown | New York Giants |
6 | 193 | Robert Windsor | Indianapolis Colts |
Undrafted | Steven Gonzalez | Arizona Cardinals | |
Nick Bowers | Las Vegas Raiders | ||
Garrett Taylor | Buffalo Bills | ||
Jan Johnson | Houston Texans | ||
Blake Gillikin | New Orleans Saints | ||
Dan Chisena | Minnesota Vikings |
Recruiting
The Nittany Lions signed 27 recruits during the 2020 signing cycle, securing the 15th ranked recruiting class in the country. This was Penn State's fourth consecutive top 15 recruiting class. 11 of the 27 signings in the 2020 class enrolled early.
Transfers
Returning starters
Player | Year | Position | 2019 Games
Started |
---|---|---|---|
Sean Clifford | Senior | QB | 13 |
Journey Brown | Senior | RB | 13 |
Rasheed Walker | Junior | OL | 13 |
Mike Miranda | Senior | OL | 8 |
Michal Menet | 5th-Sr | OL | 13 |
C.J. Thorpe | Senior | OL | 5 |
Will Fries | Graduate student | OL | 13 |
Pat Freiermuth | Junior | TE | 13 |
Preseason
Preseason Big Ten poll
Preseason All Big Ten
Award watchlists
Personnel
Coaching staff
Name | Position | Alma Mater | Years at Penn State |
---|---|---|---|
James Franklin | Head Coach | East Stroudsburg University (1995) | 7th |
Brent Pry | Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers | University at Buffalo (1993) | 7th |
Kirk Ciarrocca | Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks Coach | Temple University (1990) | 1st |
Tim Banks | Co-Defensive Coordinator/Safeties | Central Michigan University (1995) | 5th |
Tyler Bowen | Co-Offensive Coordinator/Offensive Recruiting Coordinator/Tight Ends | University of Maryland (2010) | 3rd |
Phil Trautwein | Offensive Line | University of Florida (2007) | 1st |
John Scott | Defensive Line | Western Carolina University (2000) | 1st |
Taylor Stubblefield | Wide Receivers | Purdue University (2004) | 1st |
Ja'Juan Seider | Run Game Coordinator/Running Backs | West Virginia University (2000) | 3rd |
Terry Smith | Assistant Head Coach/Defensive Recruiting Coordinator/Cornerbacks | Penn State University (1991) | 7th |
Joe Lorig | Special Teams Coordinator/Outside Linebacker | Western Oregon University (1995) | 2nd |
Dwight Galt III | Assistant AD, Performance Enhancement | University of Maryland (1981) | 7th |
V'Angelo Bentley | Graduate Assistant | University of Illinois (2015) | 2nd |
Jeff Carpenter | Graduate Assistant | Penn State University (2015) | 1st |
Deion Barnes | Graduate Assistant | Penn State University (2014) | 1st |
Wendy Laurent | Graduate Assistant | Penn State University (2016) | 1st |
Rosters
Depth Chart
Schedule
Spring game
Date | Time | Network | Spring Game | Site | Result | Attendance |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
April 18 | 1:30pm | FS1 | Blue vs. White | Beaver Stadium • University Park, PA | Canceled |
Because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Penn State, like other institutions, switched to distance-learning during the spring semester and canceled all sporting events.
Regular season
The Nittany Lions are a member of the Big Ten East Division, and will play all of the division's other six members. Cross-divisional opponents include the Iowa Hawkeyes, Northwestern Wildcats, Nebraska Cornhuskers, and Illinois Fighting Illini.
Three out-of-conference opponents were originally scheduled: a road game at Virginia Tech, and home games versus Kent State and San Jose State.[3]. However, these non-conference games were canceled on July 9 as a result of ongoing concerns with the COVID-19 pandemic.[4][5] The 9-game conference schedule increased to 10 games, adding cross-divisional opponent Illinois.[6]
Date | Opponent | Site | Result |
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September 5 | Northwestern |
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September 12 | at Indiana |
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September 19 | at Michigan |
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September 26 | Michigan State |
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October 3 | at Rutgers | ||
October 17 | Maryland |
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October 24 | Iowa |
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October 31 | at Nebraska |
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November 7 | Ohio State |
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November 21 | at Illinois | ||
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- Schedule Source:[7]
Game summaries
Statistics
Scores by quarter (Big Ten opponents)
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Rankings
Week | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Poll | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | Final | ||||||||||||||||||||
AP | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Coaches | 7 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
CFP | Not released | Not released |
References
- "Big Ten Statement on 2020-21 Fall Season". bigten.org. August 11, 2020. Retrieved August 11, 2020.
- "Football Coaching Staff". GoPSUsports.com. Penn State Nittany Lions. Retrieved January 12, 2019.
- https://fbschedules.com/ncaa-2020/team/penn-state
- Myerberg, Paul (July 9, 2020). "Big Ten football reduces season schedule to only conference games, maybe setting stage for others to follow". USA Today. usatoday.com. Retrieved July 9, 2020.
- Dinich, Heather; Schlabach, Mark (July 9, 2020). "Big Ten moving to conference-only model for all sports this fall". ESPN. espn.com. Retrieved July 9, 2020.
- Pickel, Greg (August 5, 2020). "Penn State's 2020 college football schedule is out; here is who the Lions will face this fall". Penn Live. pennlive.com. Retrieved August 5, 2020.
- https://gopsusports.com/sports/football/schedule/2020